Way back on the last Sunday of September 1947, when American soldiers were returning from occupied Germany with a taste for suds, schnitzel and song, the first Oktoberfest ever held in this country was at the beer garden in Jessup.
...
Now the [...]
A 44-year-old Parkville man accused of sending a threatening e-mail to the governor declined this morning to accept a plea offer of probation before judgment and instead went to trial on the charges. He was found guilty by a jury this afternoon.
Walter C. Abbott [...]
The sign went up Sunday evening, bold black letters against the stark white background of the marquee at the Colony South Hotel & Conference Center in Clinton: "Country First. McCain/Palin."
By daybreak, pandemonium had broken loose all across heavily Democratic Prince George's County. Many [...]
In West Baltimore's impoverished Hollins Market neighborhood, where the average life expectancy is about 63 years, residents shared beers and cigarettes on their front steps at midday yesterday while pedestrians using canes gingerly avoided two dead rats on the street.
Across town in wealthy [...]
So, here's what you can expect to see around here.
1) All of my blog activity hereout will be under a new umbrella. That umbrella is "Good Catch Media." You will notice common branding, logos and navigation among several blogs, old and new. There will be a new "Good Catch" blog [...]
This is a very long post, even when broken down into two posts. Don't feel bad if you don't want to read to the end.
Over the last four years, blogging has meant a great deal to me as a hobby, as a chance to meet great, smart people who think [...]
Divna Ljubojevic, "Hristos Anesti" (Christ is Risen), traditional Greek Orthodox Christian hymn.
[...]
In my view, the best rap ever. My secular outlook aside, put this sort of music in church instead of Christian contemporary music or the no-self-respect folk-style music that plagues modern Catholic parishes, and I'll be there at 9 AM any Sunday. We indeed got your motivation RIGHT HERE!!
[...]Of late, I have wanted to blog intensely about the Fannie Mae and general capital markets crises. I am limited in what I can say about them in each case due to attorney-client privilege, oddly enough. I do not have formal training in economics beyond average grades on a few [...]
Joel Stein in the Baltimore Sun, September 23, 2008:
If you need proof that this is the most important election in a generation, get this: Jewish grandkids are flying to Florida to visit their grandparents - without being guilted into it - to talk their elders out of voting [...]
There are some big things happening on my end here with my blogging. Some exciting things. I am rather pleased, but it's too early to say anything.
Get ready for a lot more content, a lot more edge, and some serious expansion around here. There will be big technical changes as [...]
AP via Maryland Daily Record, September 3, 2008:
A company that offered luxurious rail tours aboard refurbished vintage cars and was a major charter customer of Amtrak has gone under.For Amtrak, the closure of GrandLuxe, formerly known as American Orient Express before it came under new ownership in [...]
I have read repeatedly that John McCain favors the craps table at the casino, and just recently that Barack Obama plays poker. Perhaps it's my own prejudices as both a part-time poker player and as a supporter of Senator Obama, but I would rather have a poker-player than a craps-shooter [...]
The best case for McCain that I have read has not come from Red Maryland (they aim solidly at the conservative community, not at reachable liberals like me) or RedState (they are an abject embarrassment in their fawning for McCain and especially for Palin) but from Soccer Dad. If anyone [...]
This weekend has been interesting. My kids were sick for several days in Baltimore County. Since my soon-to-be-ex could not afford to take more time off, and the day-care provider could not take the kids for multiple reasons (including her own stomach virus and general day care regulations regarding kids [...]
I think that it's simply wrong to wish for the death of John McCain.
I wish Senator McCain a healthy, happy retirement from public office. But these folks want him dead and are praying for it.
[...]Well done, Jon Stewart.
[...]Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
"Just from what little [...]
While it was fun red meat for the community organizer-free Republican crowd, its really not so smart to smack across the face a group of people distinguished primarily by their access to maps, phone lists and community leader cell phone numbers. It's almost begging them to go volunteer as [...]
Brian Griffiths of Red Maryland and Jeff Quinton of Inside Charm City have each discussed or referenced discussions of the marginal macro-economic impact of recent tax increases under the current Maryland gubernatorial administration and recent General Assembly sessions. Griffiths challenged liberal blogger Adam Pugnacco of Maryland Moment (and occasionally [...]
Don't freak. Just doing a little site reformatting.
[...]National Enquirer, September 2, 2008:
Smokey and the Bandit star, Grammy winner Jerry Reed dead at 71.The singer songwriter died in Nashville from complications from emphysema, his booking agent announced.
Reed hits included "When You're Hot, You're Hot (When You're Not, You're Not)", "Amos Moses" and "The Bird".
It's proper to quote [...]
"Tewahedo" means "unified" or "unity", and is cognate to tawheed in Arabic and "echad" in Hebrew, referring to a doctrine regarding the divine/human nature of Christ. On YouTube, the lead performer is identified as "D[eaco]n Engidawork." I do not have more identifying information about the performers than that.
It is [...]
Apparently, my profound liberal distaste (NOTE: link contains vulgar Daily Kos-appropriate but clearly Not Safe for Work language) at the exploration of the sexual lives of not only the presumptive Vice-Presidential nominee of Republican Party, but of members of her family, is largely not shared at Daily Kos. They [...]
An easy way to donate a small amount to the Red Cross is to text message 243-57 on your cell phone, then enter GIVE. $5.00 will appear on your cell phone bill.
Gustav won't be as bad as Katrina but it will still be pretty bad. Cash helps, more than food [...]
is how you SUBSCRIBE to my screeds.
[...]Baltimore Sun, September 1, 2008:
Maryland Republicans were adjusting today to a revised convention schedule that, because of the Gulf Coast hurricane, includes less celebration and more emphasis on routine business....
Maryland delegates received a lesson yesterday in handling demonstrations both on the street and inside the hall.
"May I suggest [...]
Zuzu at Shakesville, August 31, 2008:
Now, as to why I don't think that McCain actually thinks that disaffected Democratic women will flock to him just because he picked a wingnut gun-nut creationist woman with some ethical problems as a running mate: because he doesn't have to get them [...]
Alright, time to talk about something other than this damned Presidential election.
It was a mildly frustrating day. After my trademark mode of "el cheapo" shopping (go look at cool IKEA furniture, decide I can postpone it, go look at new laptop computers, decide I can postpone it, etc.), I was [...]
Eagle Forum Questionnaire for Alaska Gubernatorial Race, July 2006:
11. Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
SP[alin]: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll [...]
Thanks, Team Dobson, for the nice message from Jesus. Guess I don't have to go to Mass, after all, since you all have all of our backs.
I used to be prejudiced against my own ethnic heritage, that being my German ancestry, as I viewed them ("us," I guess, if [...]
John Cole of Balloon Juice, August 31, 2008:
The nicest thing for me about the Palin pick is that I don’t even have to think twice about her to know I oppose her- I simply am done supporting religious nutjobs. I went along with the silliness when I was [...]
Harder language than Crab Media's custom on this one.
From John Aravosis of AMERICABlog, August 30, 2008:
Joe [Sudbay of AMERICABlog] and I discussed this post before writing it. We weren't even sure we were comfortable posting this because, as Democrats and progressives, we don't pass judgment on children born [...]
"Christian-Centered" Integrity Bank now in dissolution before the FDIC.
Apparently, "Christian-centered" means paying your CEO about 6 times above fair market value for salaries. Which might be justified - if the bank were doing, say, 6 times better than average, rather than dying in federal dissolution proceedings due to gross [...]
I have found of late an unexpected pleasure in the podcasts of Ancient Faith Radio, an online media division of Conciliar Press, which operates under the auspices of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.
For readers not familiar with the structure of the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is a [...]
I respect Brian Griffiths of Red Maryland. He and I disagree sharply about the political wisdom of Senator McCain's choice of Alaska's governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate.
Brian sees the choice as excellent and exciting, and was an admirer of Palin over six months ago. I [...]
if this be bigotry, make the most of it.
Major HAT TIP and thanks to Steaming Pile of Blog NOTE: Link is Not Safe For Work in most workplaces.
[...]Shark-Fu of AngryBlackBitch, August 28, 2008:
I have needs.Oh, Lawd…do I have needs.
I need to go to sleep at night and know that my family is safe from violence.
I need to go for a drive and know that I am safe from racial profiling.
I need to look in a [...]
The Chicago Tribune, August 26, 2008 (HAT TIP Soccer Dad and Secular Blasphemy):
Milan, Italy's Osteria L'Intrepido restaurant won Wine Spectator magazine's award of excellence this year despite a wine list that features a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe S. Sofia, which the magazine once likened to "paint [...]
I prefer a more cutting and brutal style, for which we may await Senator Biden.
But for the first time, I understand why Senator Clinton's supporters wept when she lost. I didn't like the way her team played it against Obama, though no need to rehash Mark Penn and his merry [...]
Pretty compelling story of a 19-year tire factory manager who was repeatedly underpaid and under-raised relative to her male counterparts, discovered the years of underpayment, calculated the net effect on her retirement and sued. She won a jury verdict for her lost back pay relative to her peers, but Goodyear [...]
Baltimore Sun, August 26, 2008:
While Maryland continues to be ranked as the richest state in the nation, according to estimates released by the U.S. census Tuesday, the state's poverty rate showed a slight increase.In the Baltimore region, the increase in the rate of poverty was great enough to [...]
I am not in love with the VP choice that Obama announced to me and millions-odd other political junkies on our cellphones this morning.
But Joe Biden has the single trait that I admire most right now. Not his centrist politics, his support for the Bankruptcy Bill, his vote to [...]
Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise goes into justifiable high dudgeon about sleazeball Philip Nobel, the self-described "Danger Man" who turns mundane self-absorption about his infidelities, his divorce, his revolving-door sex life and his abandonment of his children into a fee-earning written piece of obscene self-indulgence in Elle magazine. Keith [...]
Soul singer, songwriter guitarist and bad mother-SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Isaac Hayes died on Sunday (10th) at age 65.
R.I.P.
[...]The comedian Bernie Mac has died of complications related to pneumonia. He had suffered from sarcoidosis, a complex lung ailment with multiple symptoms. Bernie Mac was known for many comedy performances including "The Bernie Mac Show" and, this writer's favorite, his performance with the Original Kings of Comedy. [...]
Baltimore Sun, August 9, 2008:
Yesterday, a judge ruled that a jury can hear testimony from a prosecution witness who said defense attorney Leslie Stein urged him to change his story, telling him that "people don't last long when they snitch."Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy Doory said he didn't necessarily [...]
There have been enough words written about this Edwards affair itself. I don't care about the sex, or the infidelity.
What I care about is that John and Elizabeth Edwards sold their defective campaign as if it were honest goods. They worked the liberal blogosphere hard, and a number of bloggers [...]
Bill Browning of the Huffington Post, August 6th, 2008:
EMILY's List, known for funding female candidates for public office, has two main qualifications for getting their endorsement. You have to be female and you have to be pro-choice. The organization recently endorsed Nikki Tinker in her run for Congress [...]
John Aravosis of AmericaBlog, August 3, 2008:
One thing that constantly amazes me is how much the French actually LIKE America and Americans. It's a rare Frenchman who doesn't dream of going to New York City. Even the Parisians, when you get to actually talk to them (helps if [...]
Read from Pam Spaulding at Pandagon the overblown rhetoric of the anti-gay marriage folks in Massachusetts, now freaking because while their position against allowing out-of-state couples (i.e. in context, gay/lesbian out-of-state couples) to marry in the Bay State has "overwhelming public support," apparently it's only overwhelmingly popular position to [...]
From SmartNow.com via Lifehacker:
As the public CEO [of dot.com era Pets.com], I failed, and it was a very public failure. In fact, I was labeled one of the biggest failures ever. How bad was it? I had people laugh in my face when I introduced myself for [...]
1. I want to find a house of non-worship that non-worships in the style of the Greek Orthodox Church. I don't mean ill-will to my Unitarian sisters-in-spirit, but even for the sake of supporting the liberal team, I would rather spend 90 minutes doing yard-work for a Unitarian church or [...]
Terrance Heath of the Republic of T does a nice job of outlining the hate language used by some specific conservative media personalities and how such comments may have contributed to a recent church killing. As blogged recently here, a man in Tennessee killed two and wounded six [...]
Baltimore Sun, August 1, 2008:
Moments after the 32-year-old former music director of West Baltimore's Bethel AME Church was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison for having sex with a 12-year-old parishioner, he collapsed in the courtroom, setting off a screaming match between two families that ended with [...]
In a piece otherwise effusively praising the intellectual curiosity of Big Media's Big Boyfriend John McCain, we get treated to this reluctant admission by the Post's designated McCain-escort-for-hire Robert Kaiser:
McCain is a restless seeker of stimulation and information. Books are one source -- "He's a voracious reader, a [...]
An open offer to Red Maryland: while the idiots at Google who have falsely concluded that your site is a spam site extract their heads out of their alimentary canals, please feel free to use my site as a temporary forum for any purpose. I will up-promote/front page any [...]
On a somewhat more personal note, I note the passing of attorney Edward J. Friedman, Esq., of Pikesville, Maryland. Ed was my boss for six years at a medium-sized law firm in Pikesville, and was in all of his dealings with me fair, honest, professional and without pretentiousness at all [...]
Note: some language below the fold stronger than Crab Media's typical lexicon.
Knoxville police Sunday evening searched the Levy Drive home of Jim David Adkisson after he allegedly entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and killed two people and wounded six others during the presentation [...]
Go read MD Conservatarian's "Visiting Poland." Well done, MDC
[...]Following up from a prior post about the desecration of the Roman Catholic Sacrament of the Eucharist:
Professor PZ Myers followed through on his threat to desecrate bread wafers used in actual Roman Catholic Masses, which under Catholic doctrine constitute the Real Presence of Christ. Myers accomplished this [...]
Other bloggers working the Maryland beat have commented on the proposals for a new sports arena in Baltimore, either on the location of the current Baltimore Arena or elsewhere.
The topic bores me to tears.
I can barely even read the Baltimore Sun any more. I am glad that I get [...]
